Sonja Grover, Ph.D., Lakehead University – Advocating for Children of Haitian Descent Born in the Dominican Republic to Undocumented Parents and Denied Dominican Birthright Nationality/Citizenship

ContentsPart I: Backgrounder on the Situation in the Dominican Republic Relating to the Illustrative OP3-CRC fictional case (Case brought under the third optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure)

Part II: UNICEF DR (on Behalf of a Group of second generation children of Haitian Descent Denied Dominican Nationality and Born in the DR in La Romana District to undocumented Dominican parents and at risk of forced deportation) v the Dominican Republic (An Illustrative Fictional OP3-CRC case brought by UNICEF)

Part IV: North American update: Donald Trump proposal for retroactive de-nationalization and denial of U.S. nationality for U.S. child citizens, mostly of Mexican descent, who currently have recognized birthright U.S. citizenship having been born in the U.S. to undocumented parents

William Myers – Children’s right to defend their well-being and development

This exploratory think-piece probes a few provocative issues raised by the conference topic: Children’s Participation in Child Protection. It is occasioned by a theoretical question arising from practical field experience: What right do children have to independently defend their own best interests, as they see them, against not only the usual oppressors and exploiters but also against putative government or NGO “protectors” they either do not recognize as legitimate or whose purposes and agenda they disagree with? As minors, do they have to knuckle under to whatever adult authority claims to want to protect them, or is there sufficient legal and moral justification for them to dismiss or oppose “protective” instruction they did not invite and regard as irrelevant or counterproductive? And what about their rights? Sometimes children claim their rights in ways that directly conflict with national and international “child protection.”